Museum for Human Rights could be about wrongs

The Editor,
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights? $340 million and counting and the displays are not in yet.
The name conjures up images which might be humorous, if we were not paying for it. The whole idea sounds silly at worst and ironic at best. It is being built not far from where Louis Riel committed some of the heinous acts for which he was hung: trying to protect his people from invasion.
Generally, a museum is a place where objects or ideas from past times are stored and shown. What could we have on display in our Human Rights Museum? A few ideas:
How about early human activity such as when government trusted its citizens? It trained and armed militias, then sent them home with its weapons. Until the 1960s, a Canadian could buy dynamite showing only a vehicle license plate number. Or the good old days when you could take a plane without being humiliated and gate-raped, perhaps? A few well-locked up old guns and swords would make up this show. It is a time long gone.
Then there was a period when people trusted government. It fulfilled its duties to the Crown and received a land grant on property in return. For a while, government allowed the childish belief that citizens actually owned the land promised to them, as per land grant papers. This display could feature an original grant modified with all the new added “thou shall not’s.” It would need a large case.
Another could highlight a time when people just got in a car and drove. Before Big Brother insisted on his right to pull anyone over at any time and make certain all occupants are obeying all rules. Handcuffs and a ticket book maybe?
Then there is a dim memory of an era when folk could supply goods or services to neighbours without having to register for a GST number, or obtain permits, certifications, permission, etc. from endless governmental agencies. How did they survive? Not the people, but the government?
More modern displays could highlight the state's wisdom in taking away personal choice on what citizens can spend their last few after-tax dollars: Start with tobacco, then dishwasher soap and table salt. On to light bulbs and farm gate eggs. The list is endless and getting longer. Suggest one full floor.
Funny but not. This museum is to me the reverse of the word. It is a monument by an expanding power to its expanding ideals, not a tribute to our past and retreating principles. A temple to the intrusion of Big Brother into our lives, a tomb for the times of real freedom which included the right to be wrong or make a mistake.
The words of Mr. Steven Chu, secretary of energy under President Obama, could be chiseled over the door: "We are taking away a choice which continues to let people waste their own money." (Emphasis is mine).
Gordon Fraser,
Grenville sur la Rouge, QC